[Kurona]

One more thing I like about Faiz: I mock how often Inoue does it, but I like the belt-juggling in this a lot -- mostly because, generally, it happens exclusively with the monsters. There's this real unstated sense of fear that, if Takumi gets defeated; any of the Orphenoch could grab his belt and become basically unstoppable.

... a sense of fear kind of offset by how easily Takumi beat one of the Lucky Clover. Like... man, maybe Kuuga spoiled me with just how terrifyingly powerful some of the Grongi could be; but I really feel like J shouldn't have been defeated so easily? They're literally built up as the strongest Orphenoch by a long shot, and yet he came off as little more than a slightly stronger Monster of the Week. It really doesn't help that he has multiple lives when they're dealt with so easily, everyone's literally just "oh, you again?"

Maybe the point is that the Riders are supposed to be an unstoppable force among the Orphenoch, but then what's the point in the Lucky Clover in the first place? Where are the stakes here if Takumi can just Rider Kick them into oblivion right after defeating another one??